Cyborg sharks connected to Twitter to warn surfers and swimmers when they’re close

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To combat a spate of deadly shark attacks in Western Australia, hundreds of cyborg sharks will now automatically send out a tweet if they come within a kilometer of a beach, to alert swimmers and surfers of the potential danger. The tweet includes the size and breed of the shark, along with its approximate location.

Western Australia (the entire western third of the country), following the death of surfer Chris Boyd in November — the sixth person to die in two years — is now the most deadly place in the world for shark attacks. Historically, helicopters and boats have patrolled the coastline looking for sharks, but following the large number of deaths the local government has decided to take things to the next step. Thus, scientists are now attaching tracking transmitters to hundreds of sharks, to keep tabs on their location. When the receiver network detects a shark, a tweet is pushed out to the Surf Life Saving WA Twitter account.

The sharks are tracked using acoustic tags — devices that transmit specially coded “pings” that are then received and decoded by hydrophones (underwater microphones). Acoustic tags (pictured below) can either be attached to a shark’s fin, or placed inside a shark’s stomach (by getting the shark to eat some meat that has the tag hidden inside). With a large network of hydrophones (which Western Australia has), it’s possible to triangulate (in three dimensions) the position of the shark. Beyond being a neat safety measure, the tags also provide a lot of useful data about the sharks’ behavior, aiding the scientific community. (See: Thoughts inside a fish’s brain, captured for the very first time.)

The local authorities aren’t stopping with merely tagging sharks, though. They have recently signed off on a new scheme that allows fishermen to kill large sharks found in regions used by surfers and swimmers, and they’ve started a new program of placing bait in the water, far away from the shore, to keep sharks away from the beaches. (Read: The secret world of submarine cables.)

All of these moves, of course, are being faced by resistance from environmentalists, conservationists, and generally concerned citizens alike. These are big, expensive programs that might save a couple of lives per year. The money could almost certainly be spent in better ways. The argument, as far as the authorities are concerned, is that a single shark attack can affect local tourism in a big way. Matters of the marine do seem to have a disproportionately large impact, though: I mean, just look at the pandemonium caused by small-scale whaling, compared to the millions of cows and pigs that we slaughter every year.

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mori bund

Sebastian,
@ that inapt comparison at the end of the article:
Most whale species are on the list of endangered animals (e.g. some whale species disappeared in the last few years) and will soon be extinct – I don’t see that happening to cows and pigs.

RATBURL

Great idea if you get the information!

Brad

Who has their phone on them when they are out in the water surfing or swimming? This could work if instead of sending a tweet invent a water proof bracelet that would vibrate or something.

Gandhi Warhol

Humans kill 8000 sharks each hour. They could go extinct in the next decade which could be cataclysmic for our ecosystem. With friendlier alternatives like http://www.sharkrepellentproducts.com there really is no excuse.

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